In cold, inclement weather, frozen precipitation can collect on an aircraft and affect its ability to fly. Ice accretion on an aircraft may cause the shape of airfoils and flight control surfaces to change, which can lead to a catastrophic loss of control or insufficient lift to keep the aircraft airborne. Deicing systems are designed to keep atmospheric ice from accumulating on aircraft flight surfaces, and the process of deicing an aircraft becomes a critical part of an aircraft's departure procedure in such weather conditions.
In a conventional approach to aircraft deicing, typically the aircraft's pilot makes a request to have the aircraft deiced prior to departure. This request triggers the collection of key information about the aircraft and various notifications regarding the aircraft's intent. The aircraft then progresses to a deicing facility, where it is assigned to a deicing location, or bay, based on the aircraft's size. At the deicing bay, the appropriate amount and type of deicing fluid is applied based on weather conditions, pre-existing frozen water on the airframe, airframe manufacture specifications, and aircraft owner's procedures. With accurate advanced notice of which aircraft are to arrive and in what order, the appropriate coordination can take place by the air traffic ground control and the deicing facility to allow for minimal additional delays in deicing the aircraft prior to the flight's departure.
Such conventional approaches for handling deicing operations work well in most cases, but break down under the light and heavy extremes of activity. Specifically, in these cases, aircraft have a tendency to arrive in the deicing facility in the wrong order, with the wrong information, or without any notice. As a result, deicing bays of the proper size may not be available. This situation requires repositioning aircraft in the deicing queue which, since aircraft only move forward, can result in aircraft needing to progress through the deicing facility and back into the deicing queue. Similarly, aircraft may have to be held or repositioned if bay crews are not in position. Both issues result in extra coordination between the pilots, ground control, and the deicing facility staff and lead to both increased delays of flights and airport operations as a whole. While some automation has been leveraged to improve the traditional workflow, gaps still remain in providing accurate overall situational awareness and insight into the process.